Uhr finishes second in State

Lockhart Lion senior Robert Uhr finished a close second place at the State 4A Cross Country Meet to defending champion Ryan Teel, of Friendswood High School.

After running a smart, strategic race on the challenging 5,000-meter course against a strong 26 mph wind and swirling dust, Uhr trailed Teel by nearly 20 meters with only 100 meters to go. With his trademark blistering

kick, Uhr nearly caught Teel as they approached the finish line, but Teel responded to the roar of the crowd and surged to narrowly defeat Uhr by only two seconds.

Uhr ran an excellent time of 15:44, a pace of 5:03 per mile. Teel is also the defending State 4A Track Champion in both the 1,600 and 3,200 meters. As seniors, Uhr and Teel are likely to meet again next spring at the State 4A Track Meet 1,600 meter championship.

Senior Nic Avey started at a quick pace and was in the top 20 runners at the one-mile mark in a fast time of 4:40. He finished in 43rd place against the best 4A distance runners in Texas, with an excellent time of 17:14.

Uhr is only the fifth Lockhart runner ever to finish as champion or runner-up at the State 4A Cross Country Meet.  He joins an elite group of Lockhart runners including: Tommy Bonn (Runner-up, 1998), Jason Gould (Runner-up, 1999), Chris West (Champion, 2004) and Rory Tunningley (Champion, 2007).

Interestingly, Uhr translates from German to English as “time,” an appropriate name for one of the top distance runners in Texas.

Defending 4A State Champion Boerne Champion repeated their 2011 first place finish over second place Cedar Park.  Boerne Champion and Cedar Park were tied 55-55 after their top five runners, but Boerne Champion won the tiebreaker based on their sixth runner’s 31st place finish over Cedar Park’s sixth man’s 41st place. District 27-4A was well represented at the State Meet with Boerne Champion’s team victory and Robert Uhr’s individual silver medal performance.

Said Coach Hippensteel, “Having Nic and Robert get to the State Meet helped to cap off another great year of Lockhart Cross Country.”